In the Pillow Fighting League thread, Andrew mentioned getting hit directly on top of the head with a heavy pillow.

Funny thing, just yesterday I was reading Roger Ebert's 2005 Movie Yearbook.I looked up a couple of reviews, read them and then put the book back on this fairly large wooden wall shelf that I keep DVD's & books on. I'd guess that it weighs at least 10 lbs.

I sat down at my computer and less than a minute later...CRAAASH!The whole damn shelf came crashing down off the wall behind me spilling books and movies everywhere.It literally scared the hell out of me! Made me jump right out of my chair. It seems that putting that book back on it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

After some cursing, I picked up the mess and tried to re-mount the shelf back up on the wall but was having some problems getting it to stay put.The walls here are made of tough thick plaster and getting screws to stay in them or even drilling a hole is almost impossible.I decided to drill two new holes for the screws and managed to get it mounted up on the wall but hadn't yet screwed the screws in all the way with the screwdriver I was using.(the screws were in about 1/4 the way and the shelf was mounted about 6 feet above the floor)

I bent down to pick the drill up off the floor to put the screws in the rest of the way and as I was rising, the right side of the shelf came loose, fell down and hit me square on top of the head.

Now, I've been hit on the head a few times in my life but this damn near knocked me out.It dazed me pretty bad.After I shook it off, next came instant rage. Nothing can set a person off more than bumping their head or getting smacked on it when they're not expecting it.I was tempted to grab the shelf and throw it against the wall but didn't.

After even more cursing, I finally got the thing mounted firmly on the wall.It won't come off now...I drilled three more screws into it and used screw anchors.

How about you?Ever get hit in the head by something when you weren't expecting it?

Many, many times I've been wacked in the head with something. The worst was while I was at work. My locker was under one of those iron stairways, I had to get on my knees to reach my locker. I knew the stairs were there and always avoided them, but one time my mind must of been on something else, (this was from being wacked in the head so many times probably) I just stood up, forgot completly about the stairs and BAM, down I went into a sitting position dazzed and confused. It's funny because as much pain as I was in, I was so embarrassed, I hurried up and opened my locker and sat there acting like I was getting something. All these people were just walking by, they had no idea I was about to pass out. It left a mark that's for sure.

I've gotten hit in the head a number of times (which number? er, one of the knocks knocked that piece of information out.)

One time, I guess I was about twelve, a bunch of us were in a black walnut fight -- where you through black walnuts at each other. Even with the outer covering still on, I got hit in the head hard enough for some bleeding. Ouch.

I was putting up one of those BasketBall hoops, you know the ones that you see on side of street or backyards, and I was holding it while my friend was unscewing in and WHAM! it hit me in the head. I was dazzed fot about 4 seconds and left a nasty bump.

Just last Thursday I was at Princeton University where my wife was having a seminar. While there I had about 5 hours to look the campus and town over. Went to the Princeton Battlefield where George Washington and the Continental Army fought the British. It was 5,000 revolutionaries against 8,000 British. One of Washingtons generals Gen. Mercer was bayoneted 7 times layed under an oak tree and refused to leave the battlefield till victory was had and was later taken to the Quaker farm house on the ridge where he died 9 days later in the arms of Washington's nephew. A real intense battle took place here.

Death scene of General Mercer at Princeton, NJ.

While walking around the battlefield I was struck in the temple area by the end of a large thick branch of a giant 200 year old white oak tree which caused bleeding. Blood was drawn again on Princeton's Battlefield once again. After 7 days its now only a red mark. At first the branch left two 2 inch parallel bloody lines across my temple. One deeper than the other, so that only one is left now. It should clear up soon. After my battlefield wound I continued my tour of the battlefield, farm house, and mass grave of soldiers from both sides. It was so odd walking around there by myself with a my bloody wound where so many stood (George Washington), and others fought, and many died. It was another one of my holy experiences on sacred ground.

The worst hit the head I ever got wasn't really much of an impact at all. I was at a neighbors house helping with their horses. I went to walked through one of the gates and hit my forehead against the electric fence wire that was running across it. The jolt knocked me right to the ground and left me dazed for about a minute.

Along with all my childhood escapades (took hits from dirt clods, walnuts, wiffle ball bats, iced snowballs, and more), my choice of profession gets me hurt now and then. I have been clobbered by a chair or stool, struck hard during pugil stick and groundfighting, and smashed in a few other ways. The perils of a very active and physical lifestyle. I'm just glad that I haven't broke anything worse than a toe, though the A/C separation I had would have been better as a collarbone break (per the Navy Medical Officer).

I used to work for a lumber and hardware company as a sash and door salesman. In the lumber yard was a large portable butler shed, about the size of a large airplane hanger, this was where door jambs, mouldings etc. were kept in vertical racks separated by steel arms, at the end of each rack was an empty space and the foot or floor of the rack continued for about 18 inches, for stability I guess. Anyway it had been a while since I was in this part of the shed and I was in a hurry to get back to the phone at my desk, I didn't notice that someone had stacked a bunch of pine door stop sets on the end of one rack, which happenned to be right next to the doorway I was running out of, I took a short cut over the foot of the rack, didn't see the 2x4 that was bolted to the rack to hold the stop in and as I hopped over the edge of the rack I hit this piece of wood with the middle of my forehead, my head stopped, the rest of me kept going, I fell flat on my back, cracked my head on the concrete, laid there for a couple of seconds, realized I must have looked and was looking stupid, jumped up, made sure no one saw what I did and walked into the office. I had a large and visible knot on the back of my head, the back of my shirt and pants were covered with dust and stuff from the shed floor, and I had blood from my cut forehead all over my shirt front,unfortunately I was unaware of all this, being kind of out of it, my coworker said "what the hell happened to you" My response was "nothing", his response to this was "You look like you just got your butt kicked". I said " I hit my head" and then I realized I was hurt pretty good. I had some fun with the insurance report form, it asked what can be done to prevent this type of accident in the future, I responded with do not try to prove that the human skull is stronger than a 2x4 or harder than concrete.I think that's a lot more amusing than watch where you're going.

Logged

Science claims that hydrogen, because there is so much of it, is the building block of the universe, I dispute this, there is plenty more stupidity, and that is the building block of the universe. Frank Zappa

How about you?Ever get hit in the head by something when you weren't expecting it?

I uh.... hmm... forget.

Actually, the situation that comes to mind is the time I was playing tag with my 13 year old niece in the new inground pool back at my childhood home. I was running around the pool, and to avoid getting "tagged" I dove over the pool's sliding board (ah... I miss that sliding board...) and ended up torpedoing head first into the sloped part of the pool's concrete bottom. Needless to say, the sight of my blood-soaked head and face is probably forever engraved in my niece's fragile psyche. Man, did that hurt!

I've hit my head several times but the worst had to be the time when I was around 10 years old or so and I fell off an henhouse, that was located on the side of an hill. There was a crowd of us kids up there messing around with each other and I guess there was just one too many of us up there because suddenly I was bumped off and found myself rolling through plants we call "stinging needles" here for good reason and then banged my head on something that nearly knocked me out and made me lightheaded. I learned later (I didn't know what was going on at the time) that I'd split my head open on a rock at the bottom of the little hill I rolled down. I actually don't remember much of it aside from the stinging needles hurting me worst than anything else it seemed to me at the time...guess one form of pain takes away from another or something?

When I was about 14 some friends of mine had made a circular bike track in the woods to race around. I was going really fast and hit a log sticking out on the track which tossed me over the handle bars and head first into a pine tree.

About four years later some friends and I were camping out at an old lignite mine (a big pit filled with water). We were drinking and some guys showed up we didn't know and since we were pretty drunk they tried to steal our beer. I had gone to take a leak and one of these guys was standing in the trail and I kicked him in the chest to get him out of the way, he caught himself and came back with a punch that knocked me back head first into a tree. Of course, my friends told me about this because I didn't remember anything but my head bleeding and b***hing about this guy picking on a poor drunk.

I can't for the life of me remember how I hit my head, but I do remember that last year I hit my head so bad, though not to the point of serious injury, that my eyes went fuzzy and I couldn't see anything for a minute or two afterwards. Freaked the hell out of me, crouching on the floor, holding my head, starting to wonder whether the throbbing feeling in my skull would go away, if my stomach would stop turning in circles and if I would be able to focus my eyes ever again. Afterwards when my body settled down, I got up, shook my head and felt great for the rest of the day.

Other than that, just the usual idiotic bangs of the head [kinda like Poogie's I spose: you know something's there, and forget about it once and just clanging your head on something solid.]

Oh and the time a friend and I made a jump for our rollerblades when we were 11 and I went over, smacked my head on a concrete corner and had a gaping hole in my head for 6 hours, until my mum noticed my skull as I was lying on the couch watching TV. I wasn't going to tell them.

When I was about 7 years old I fell head first out of a tree onto a large exposed root. My friend asked me if I was ok, and I was so dazed, but I stood up holding my head and said "yes" then I saw the blood pouring out, and ran home crying . Still have the 1/2 inch scar on my forehead even to this day.